Chapter 213 – Black Moon
No one said a word while climbing the stairs. Everyone was glancing at Germi, examining her mood.
Arriving at the rooftop on the 5th floor in an awkward atmosphere, Germi opened the door. She let out a scream that the hinges didn’t want to hear as the door slowly opened.
On the orange-tinted rooftop, I could see the back of an old man kneeling in front of the railing, weeping sadly. Contrary to usual, the back of his face looked very shabby.
“Ughhh… Ugh…”
“…”
Germi quietly approached Hergel. The party stood near the entrance to the roof, unable to move forward, and stood still and watched.
It felt as if only the narrow area leading to the rooftop entrance was allowed to us.
I looked at Germi’s back as she approached Hergel. Her tail was drooping.
“Ahh… Ugh…”
“…”
Germi silently watched from behind her as Hergel knelt on her knees and buried her head against the railing, crying bitterly.
That look lasted quite a while.
By the time the sun that had colored the sky orange covered the ridge and slowly disappeared, Hergel stopped crying and called out to Germi in a wet voice.
“Germi, you too… Do you resent me… “
“…”
“I didn’t love you… I’m just afraid that if I show my care for you, you’ll be in danger… That’s what it was…”
Hergel’s words were more like self-defense than questions.
“I had many enemies. It’s only natural because I’ve lived my life committing bad things. The cries of revenge and the voices of those who asked for my forgiveness are still good… There was a realization that I had been living doing bad things. It was an unforgivable crime, a crime that disrupted the daily lives of many people…”
Kidnap people and sell them as slaves In the process, if the resistance was severe, he would have been killed, and after the kidnapping, he raped and assaulted and broke his spirit. People who were so broken and weak were sold as slaves or thrown into brothels to make money.
It is a heinous crime that cannot be forgiven.
“Still… Even if I did that, my child… I wanted my family to live without lacking…”
“…”
“They were fucking parents. I also resented it a lot. Still, I was able to come this far thanks to the blood of the beastmen passed down by my parents.”
Just as I have experienced many things in my life, Hergel must have had many stories. Numerous events accumulated throughout his life would have formed his values, and they would have made Hergel the owner of a huge criminal organization that ruled the underworld in the western part of the kingdom called the Black Moon.
“At least for my children, I wanted you to live a life that is different from mine and lacks nothing… But, it was not enough, I was wrong… If only I could go back to the beginning… I will never make this choice again…”
“…”
“Give me more love… Laugh together… I guess I should have lived a normal life like that… What the hell was my life For my comfort… I’ve been stealing other people’s happiness for my family… That was all wrong…”
Germi said nothing. But Hergel couldn’t help it and continued to spit out what was piled up in his chest.
“The more you take away from others… As the number of enemies increased, every night became more frightening. I became afraid that there might be a problem out of my eyes. You killed a traitor painfully and set an example. In order to hide my fear-filled heart, I wielded fear as a weapon and ran the organization by scattering money. I postponed my composure in order not to show weakness…”
“…”
“The result is now like this. I made my children fight for their lives, and I almost got killed by my son. Besides, he cursed me and died. None of that is what I wanted…”
Hergel pressed his knees with his fists and looked up at the indigo blue sky.
“Where did you go wrong? Where did my life go wrong?”
He couldn’t answer Hergel’s question about what was wrong. Hergel laughed dejectedly at the silence that penetrated his bones.
“Everything went wrong from the start. Taking away someone else’s happiness doesn’t make it my happiness, but I’m paying the price for ruining other people’s lives. You reap what you sow…”
Hergel staggered and stood up. Then he sat down helplessly on the railing.
“Germi, my daughter… Don’t make the same mistake as me… This is the only thing this poor father can teach you…”
“…”
Germi said nothing. The evening wind that blew from somewhere swung Germi’s tail and passed by.
Hergel felt the wind and closed his eyes.
“What is the meaning of this life even if I have to live shamelessly? My life… It was wrong.”
“Ah…”
Hergel’s body fell over the railing. Seeing that, Germi collapsed.
It wasn’t long before she heard a popping sound as she hit the floor. Germi, who was sitting on the floor, was only staring blankly at the railing where Hergel had disappeared.
She was then able to take her steps to her rooftop. Hergel approached the ledge and looked down.
Hergel’s corpse was visible next to Herendal’s corpse.
She looked at the red-stained floor, then turned her gaze to Germi.
“Germi.”
“…”
Clear tears flowed from Germi’s eyes.
“Germi…”
She didn’t know what to say.
As she held Germi to her chest and patted her on the back, Germi grabbed her by the collar of mine.
“Huh…”
“Are you okay… Are you okay…”
What is okay I couldn’t help but hug Germi while making a sound I couldn’t understand myself.
Even as he comforted Germi, Hergel’s last words still lingered in his ears. The words of his self-reflection he said made him feel uncomfortable as if he were talking to me.
If you can’t be happy by stealing other people’s happiness, how on earth do you have to be happy?
A life where you can’t get what you want, how on earth can you be happy?
Germi’s voice came from the bosom.
“Family is… I’ve never heard a word meaningful to me…”
“Germi.”
“I wanted to kill you not too long ago. Hergel and Herendal too… I wanted to kill everyone… What the hell is a family, what kind of family is it that doesn’t even give you love… What does he say… You’re preaching to me like you’re proud…”
“Germi…”
“Why do you just say your own words and die? .”
“Are you okay. Are you okay…”
The orange sunset that colored the sky had completely disappeared before I knew it. The night sky was just embroidering the sky without a word, wearing a starry blue cloak.
*****
When I opened my eyes in the morning, I saw Germi’s face, her eyes swollen from crying and falling asleep. I quietly covered Germi with a blanket so as not to wake her up, and left the room. As soon as she came out into the hallway, a blunt maid greeted her by bowing her head as if she had been waiting.
“Others are in the dining room. Germi is… ?”
“I am still sleeping. Let me sleep some more.”
“Yes.”
As I followed the maid’s guidance into the restaurant on the first floor, I saw other women sitting at her table. The quiet atmosphere weighed heavily on her shoulders.
“The body was buried in the back garden using skeletons.”
“… Good job.”
She nodded her head at Natalia’s words and sat down at her table.
Hergel’s words still haunted my mind. Hergel was good to me and Germi, but he was clearly evil to many people.
Even if it was for his own family, he is an unforgivable sinner who has ruined many people’s lives.
I will be no different.
For my own comfort, I’ve cheated on others and done anything.
I hate having complicated thoughts like this… Even if I try to shake my head and blow away the complicated thoughts that fill my head and stay comfortable, it doesn’t work like my heart.
“Ha…”
“What’s the matter?”
“Ah, Roin… It’s just that my head is a little complicated.”
“Me too…”
Roin looked at me with an awkward smile.
Compared to the world I lived in, this world has low moral standards and is violent. However, if committing a crime is permissible just because you have a low moral sense, that’s another matter.
I don’t know. It is full of unknowns. There’s no answer.
So did the famous philosopher Socrates.
‘I know that I know nothing.’
Even Socrates doesn’t know, so is there a need to know that it’s me?
There is a saying that life is a no-answer… Isn’t it correct to just enjoy life?
I’m so busy living today, is it right to think about what’s right and what’s wrong?
